The Ramsey Show - App - Should I Quit My Job and Go Back to School? (Hour 2)

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Ken Coleman & Rachel Cruze discuss: Making the jump to owning your own business, Paying off a HELOC, Staying in a job vs. going back to school, Selling a house to pay off debt, Preparing for a reduction in income.   Want a plan for your money? Find out where to start: https://bit.ly/3nInETX Listen to all The Ramsey Network podcasts: https://bit.ly/3GxiXm6

Девочка-пай Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, this is The Ramsey Show. It's where we talk to America about their life, their money, their work, and their relationships. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me this hour. We are here for you. 888-825-5225. 888-825-5225. Let's go to the Motor City to start this hour off. Mitchell is there in Detroit. Mitchell, how can we help? Hi. So I'm trying to decide if I should focus my energy and attention on the career I currently have or switch over to the business that I currently have. So I currently work as an automation technician, and I work for a great company that is very loyal to me and supporting me. And they're sending me to college on their dime, but I have a contract with them for five

years. So I have a commitment to this company and I do really love this company and I think it's full of great people. But I read your book, Ken, From Paycheck to Purpose, and the part where you talked about getting clear with yourself really, I don't know, I just had an epiphany and I kind of thought that I'm not so sure that this is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. And I just have this inner passion for owning my own business and I can't help but feeling like I owe it to society and our world to bring, put my best skills forward and, and do what I think I am the most passionate about. How old are you, Mitchell? I currently, I'm 20. You're 20. And tell me about the side business.

So the business that I currently have is essentially like a marketing agency. I make ads for what is it's right now. I only make ads for my own company. I, uh, I, I get with, I, so it's a flashlight business. I have suppliers and I like go out and find suppliers that have very high quality flashlights, bring them to the U S and then basically act as their marketing agent. And how much agency. How long you've been doing it, and how much money are you averaging a month from this side business? So I launched the website about a month ago, and I've probably made about $1,000. Okay, great.

Well, first of all, I love your enthusiasm and your passion, and you read correctly. That is what I want you to do, and I do think that you have a unique contribution to make. However, I was once 20. It's hard to believe when I say that. When you said Mitchell from the Motor City, I thought, oh, his 20-year-old days were far away. He's a very old man comment.

That's what they call Detroit, the Motor City. I know. Thank you very much. It's just a grandpa move. That's fine. I'll take it. Okay. That's fine.

I can handle it. Anyway, Mitchell, you're 20, right? And so you've got a lot of time and you also get this contract. How far into the five-year commitment do you have to this company that they're paying for your schooling? I'm halfway through the program, so I'm two and a half years in. Great. Great. The schooling is three years, and then I have two years of full-time employment at the company. And just so you know, I am fully committed to finishing out five years. So here's the encouragement. I feel like I owe it to them no matter what.

Okay, great, because that's the right move. And I also love the idea of you being 20, and you've started this thing, and you're a month in. Because the reality is six months from now, you may have another idea. And that's okay too at 21 or 20. This is the season where you've got a stable job. The greatness is you like the work, you like the people, and there's tremendous stability here. So this is the season of testing and exploring ideas. So my advice is stay the course.

Let's try a lot of things. What you got to be careful of here is that you don't let your heart kind of drown out your brain here and talk you out of if you get some success with this, this marketing agency and sort of go, oh, I want to say, no, stay the course. Build it to the pace that you can build it, given you've got responsibilities with school and work. And let's just see what else comes into mind as you think about the future. But there is a day coming, I can see it, where you will be your own boss and work for yourself. But you've got to replace that income. You've got to replace the income. And so that's always the mindset uh it's very easy for young people specifically to obsess about the next and miss what you need to do in the now and then

ultimately sacrifice the next so that's my only caution you got a really level head i think you got a really good plan rachel any thoughts here on yeah? You sound extremely mature to be a 20-year-old. So I think that, yeah. And I think like Ken's saying, continue to grow. And I think even, you know, and you already said this, but honoring that time with the company and the investment they're putting in you, taking you through school and all of that.

And even that in and of itself is a good character move. Like when you can learn to keep your word early on and stay the course like Ken is saying. There's even a character quality to that, Mitchell. That's a great value, of great value.

So yeah, I think you're doing awesome and like Ken said, I think we're going to look down the future and Mitchell will have his own company at some point in life for sure.

Patience is a superpower. I wish I had known that at 20. Patience. It really does pay off. All right, so here's another. Let's see if this is another grandpa move. Your words. Let's go north of the border.

You said that earlier, too. But I'm going to say it again because that's where it is. Toronto, Canada. Elizabeth is there. Elizabeth, how can we help? Hi. Hi, Ken and Rachel. Greetings from the sunny Toronto, sunny and dry Toronto.

Oh, that's nice because it is wet here in Nashville today. That's exactly why I'm saying sunny or dry over here. We're boasting from the north that we have sun and dry news. That's fantastic. How can we help you today, Elizabeth? So I want to know whether or not I should pay off my mortgage or my HELOC. And I know Ramsey says pay off the HELOC. That's the only two debts I have. And I was focusing on paying off the HELOC until I ran into a snag today where I maxed out the amount that I could pay within one year, which is 15%,

and I can't do anything more with the HELOC because I locked in for five years variable rate. It's now at 3.58, and this is where we're at. Now, the mortgage, on the other hand, so the HELOC, I have $79,389 left on that, $79,389. And the mortgage, I have $129,500 on that. My mortgage is coming due December 1st, 2022. The rate, it's a locked rate at 2.54. So I don't know what to do right now with these two. I know he says pay off the HELOC, but where we're at right now, I'm a little stumped

because I can't pay anything more without paying a penalty on the HELOC. Of that. Going over. Was there an option, Elizabeth, to roll it into your mortgage? There is an option in December. Yeah, you could look into doing that. I didn't want to do that, but. Yeah, you'll be paying both debts off, and it'll be a lower interest rate if you do that. We always say to pay off the HELOC and put it in Baby Step 2

if it's half of your annual income. But all the math that you're throwing at me, I'm assuming that's probably not the case. So if you can just roll it into your mortgage, that's an option to get a lower interest rate and then attack it. But you're doing great, Elizabeth. Thanks so much. Thanks for the call. Thank you so much for the call. By the way, I like the way she said your name.

Ra'sha. I might call you Ra'sha. I love it. The rest of the show. I like it. Because I'm north of the border. Oh, folks, the things that irritate Rachel. Rachel Cruz.

So fun. Hey, don't move. More of the Ravesy Show coming up. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me this hour as we take your calls. 888-825-5225. That is the toll-free number. Dalton is up in San Antonio, Texas.

Dalton, how can we help? Hey, guys. First off, thank you so much for taking my call. Really love the show. Love all y'all. Thank you. My question is this. Yes, no problem.

My question is this. Should I stay in my current sales job as an RV salesman, or should I go back to school and pursue law school? Okay. So, what's on the other side of law school for you? What does that look like, that vision so i uh have been passionate about uh justice and law and so a career that i can actually see myself doing and being able to help people um not only that it's also something i can make money doing um and so also uh the there is, I mean, I don't want to limit myself, because I know there are several different pathways once you become an attorney, but probably going to try to focus on helping veterans out. Okay. All right.

So I just wanted to hear your heart behind it, you know, because when somebody asks me a question like that, it's like, well, if you want to be a lawyer, you got to go to law school. And I am no fan of grad school for just for the sake of burnishing your resume. But in this case, it's obviously relevant. You got to do it. So the question is, what do you have saved? Because I have an idea for you that I don't think most people know about. I had the privilege of interviewing a guy who's a lawyer who wrote this small little booklet and blew my mind about how you can go to law school for free.

And I'm going to tell you about that in a second. But I want to know what's your target schools? What kind of money do you have set aside? Because we don't want you to go into debt, and law school can be unbelievably expensive. Gosh, gosh. So I actually don't have any debt. I'm on baby step three, saving my emergency fund, working on that. The thing is, is my grandmother, when she passed away, she left in her 401k a certain amount of money that my dad actually has access to every year,

and that is what is helping pay off my brothers, my sisters, and eventually will help pay off my student loans by God's grace. Yeah. Well, but I still don't want you to, I would rather that money maybe go towards paying for some of the school and cash flowing. Sure. So let me tell you about this, and you got to do your homework, okay? So you're going to have to do your homework on law schools that you're interested in. But here's the simple process. There are all of the big, shiny, impressive, like Vanderbilt law or Harvard law. But there are, you wouldn't believe, like all of the state schools,

smaller schools that you've never heard of that have law programs. And if you score a certain number, and it's very high, so you can go do the research, this is readily available, on the LSAT, which is the entrance exam for law school, certain scores, and you can take the LSAT, by the way, Dalton, as many times as you want. And that to me would be the play, because if you get a certain score, law schools will ask you to come to their law school and give you a full ride. And the reason is because they're looking to put out successful lawyers. So I want you to know that's not some scheme.

That's not a pipe dream. That's real. And I would really implore you to think about that because here's what I know, Rachel. I've not had to deal with lawyers very much. I had to hire a lawyer a few times on just contract stuff, nothing big. But you know what? I've never asked them where they went to law school. Yeah, yeah.

Same with doctors. Yeah. Right? Last time you went and got a checkup. You're in a hospital and you're like, I need to start. Okay, okay, okay. It wasn't like, well, if you didn't go to one of these three schools. Right, right.

As they're rolling you back to the ER or the operating room and you're like, yeah, nobody cares. So Dalton, that's what I want the money. First of all, go get really clear with your dad. What's the allocation for me for law school? And instead of thinking about applying that to a loan, how about we apply that to any tuition or maybe housing or something that you might need to make this transition? So that's what I want you to hear. Yes, you should go to law school.

Don't rush, all right, because law school is going to be there. The veterans and the people you want to help with that law degree are going to be there. So I'd get my ducks in a row is what I'm saying here, and I would really, really encourage you. If you're a good student and a good test taker, I was not, but if you are, that's a viable option to save just a crazy amount of money. Yeah, for you, what's more of the motivation, helping veterans in life, or is it more being a lawyer?

And it could be both. I am a veteran myself. And short story long, I had a lot of things happen told me that they are going to be able to take my case for free this semester to help me get that all situated and all fixed up. And after getting off that call, it was a confirmation. If I can do that one day for another veteran or even even if I could do that one day for someone else who's struggling with any type of situation or legal matter, it would make the world of difference. Yeah. Dalton, forgive the ignorance of this if it's an ignorant question, but does the GI Bill not come into play for you on law school? So it's up in the air. After getting off that phone call with that attorney, it's looking like I have a lot greater chances of being able to use that GI Bill. Okay. But if you were taken off for leave, then yeah. That's part of what's going on. Okay. I got you. All right. That makes sense. Yeah. And the only reason... That's the full story.

I asked that question, Dalton, as I'm like, you know, not steering you away from law school by any means, but continuing to look at options. We talk about options on the show all the time. But like, where's a way that I can do that and help in a way that may not require a law degree? Like, is that an option at all? Because law school, it's expensive. It's long, all of that. But if being a lawyer is,

and the legal system is a real big passion of yours, then obviously you need to go. But I just wanted to clarify and make sure that you can't get that passion served in other positions besides just being a lawyer. But it's great. And I hope that it all goes in your favor for sure. Because that will help with the GI Bill. That's a great call out. Dalton, thank you so much for your service.

Yes, yes. Thank you. For the call. Let's go to Gabriel in Fort Worth, Texas. Gabriel, how can we help? Howdy. Yeah, so I've got a pretty good question for you guys. I'm trying to figure out if I should sell our house to pay off our debt or to stay in the home and find a job that would help

kind of pay toward the debt faster. And if I chose the job side, I'd go from corporate style to a startup business. Okay. How much is your mortgage payment a month, percentage-wise, for your overall budget? Yeah, 25%. So it's $1575.

Okay. And I make $90,000 a year. Okay. Yeah, I mean, especially since it's not a huge part of your budget, which a year. Okay. Yeah. I mean, selling the house, I mean, especially since it's not a huge part of your budget, which is great. It's what we teach that it doesn't eat into everything that, um, and how much, sorry, how much debt do you guys have? We have 22,000 in car, which is one vehicle and then 6,000 in medical. How much could you sell the car for?

More than that. More than the 22. Why don't we just get rid of the car probably yeah probably 32 000 so we get 32 and it's you could you could sell it knock everything out and have four grand hanging around knock out your all the all your debt yeah and that way i guess we wouldn't have to have a sell the home or yes yeah and i Yeah. And I do not like you trying to make more money with a startup. It's too risky.

Okay. And it's not necessary. Yeah. Your house payment's not out of control. No, it's not the house. The house isn't the issue. It's you guys buckling down.

Are you guys on a strict budget? Are you sitting down before the month begins? Yeah, very strict. Okay, you know exactly where your money's going. Okay, that's great. Sell the car, baby.

Get rid of that. Get rid of it. Sell it. Yeah, I would. You owe $22,000. You get $32,000 for it. You gain $10,000. Pay off the credit cards at $6,000. Have $4,000 left. You're driving around a clunker for a while. Who cares?

Use that $4,000 to throw towards something else. Save up a little bit. You make great income. Yeah, don't sell it. No, you don't need to sell the house. Get real. Yeah, thank you soer for a while. Who cares? Use that four to throw towards something else. Save up a little bit. You make great income. Yeah, don't sell. No, you don't need to sell the house. Get real. Yeah, thank you so much for the call. You guys are so close. Stay the course.

Thank you so much for the call. All right, folks. Don't move. More of the Ramsey Show coming right back. Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. Thrilled to have you with us. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me. As we are here taking your calls, 888-825-5225.

We're talking about your life, whether that's your money situation, your work situation. We are here to help today. Let's go to Ogden, Utah. Connor is there. Connor, how can we help? Yeah, thank you for taking my call. So my wife and I are about ready to move out of our home. We have a little daughter, and we're outgrowing it.

So we've been looking at our options, and because my parents are so generous and we've been so blessed, they told us about a week ago that they're going to be giving all their kids an inheritance early so they can watch them spend it. And the inheritance is about $300,000. Wow. Yeah. That's awesome. And so that opens up a lot of options for us.

We have been kind of weighing it in our heads. And one of the things is our current home is in a college town, and we've been thinking about maybe just paying that off with $100,000 or $115,000 is what we owe on it still, and then renting it out and then using the other $200,000 as a down payment to our next house, which would get us a comfortable house payment. But the other option is we thought maybe we would just sell this house now and take the $200,000 in equity and put it towards our next down payment along with $300,000 or whatever to basically buy our next house in cash and not have a house payment. So we're just trying to figure out between those two options what would be – maybe there's another option that I'm not thinking about either that you can fill me in on. No, not off the top of my head of what you guys want to do. I mean, I think this is a really smart move and I think a beautiful way to honor your parents and the legacy and the inheritance that they're giving you. I'm sure they would appreciate seeing this versus taking 18 trips around the world or something.

I don't know. There's something about it that is like, oh, there's like a stability. It's an investment. Which way are you leaning? I'm curious to know, are you two leaning the same way? One of you leaning one way, one leaning the other? My wife is leaning a little bit towards the renting. And I'm kind of honestly in the middle. I could see

either way. I like the idea of having that extra stream of income coming in every single month. But there's also that feeling of just not having any debt at all with our next home. Yeah. And just being free and clear. Connor, do y'all want to be landlords? Like the idea of an investment property sounds like, oh, that sounds great. And yes, there's passive income. And I come from a real estate family. My husband loves real estate. It's like I get it. But because of that, I also know all of the work that goes in.

And then you said college town that I'm sure you can find the great group of college students to rent it out. But you're also renting it out to college students. So or possibly you could obviously not do that. But I mean, the landlord thing, it's that's not just a, oh yeah, that's cool and fun. I mean, it ends up kind of being a part-time job. And if you're working full-time, I'll be honest, it may land into your wife's lap of her having to go

and fix the sink breaks. And they, you know, like it's a thing too. So I just want you guys to keep in mind. So it is a great way to have passive income. But if I were you, I would just be free and clear. And then if you guys want to save up because you won't have a mortgage if you just sold it and then paid cash for your primary residence. Yeah, I mean, that's phenomenal. Then you could save up a lot.

And if you guys chose to go into real estate investing, then you could and start small, maybe even a different location. Right. Yeah. So fun little exercise. How much do you think you could get per month for that house in the college town? If you paid it off with some of this inheritance,

how much? $1,350 is about what the rent would be. Okay. So again, you know, what's that going to end up being? $18,000, $19,000, $20,000? I'm not really great at math, but somewhere in that range, right?

Mm-hmm. $15,000, $16,000, something like that. So you have to sit there with your wife and go, okay, here's the income that this would spit off, but that doesn't include the expenses that Rachel was touching on. It's not going to just be that, yeah. It's not going to be free and clear $15,000 to $18,000.

You're going to have to replace carpet in three years. You're going to probably repaint the wall. I mean, it's just, yeah, it's not going to be free and clear 15 to 18 000 you're gonna have to replace carpet in three years you're gonna probably repaint the wall i mean it's just yeah i think that's a i learned that one from george i was with george george camel threw that at a caller the other day i was like that's a really good exercise because it's like is it worth is it worth all the work let's just call it net just for easy numbers 14 000 a year you're going to have expenses you're just going to and you got all of this for 14 grand and to rachel's point like what's the trade-off on like a huge down payment or buying buying a house cash you know in this point in your marriage so i'd get rid of the house too i really would okay it's just but i mean you got to sit down

with your wife and cast a vision on that. Yeah, and there's not, I don't think there's a wrong answer here. That's correct. Because one of them is going to be paid off.

If you were going to still have debt on it and debt on a primary residence, I would tell you to get rid of it, hands down. But for it being paid off, there's not,

yeah, it's not right or wrong. It's just truly where you guys want to put your time and your effort. You know, if it's my dad or my husband,

they're probably going to keep it because they love real estate and they're like, oh, it is worth it because of, you know, if it's my dad or my husband, they're probably going to keep it because they love real estate. And they're like, oh, it is worth it because of, you know, they just, it's part of what they love. But to me, I'm like, whew. And the college, oh, man, I just remember that I remember renting a house in college. Mm-hmm.

Oh, man. I know. Winston lived with like six guys in a rental house. It's disgusting. I'm already disgusted. It was terrible. Oh, yeah. Block parties and games and all that kind of stuff.

We were good renters, though, my group of friends. We were very clean. We took care of that house. I was an old soul. Yeah. Well. In the college days. Yeah.

I think you're still an old soul. I'll take it. Not as old as me, though, apparently. No, I'm not quite north of old soul. I'll take it. Not as old as me, though, apparently, with my little phrases. Not quite north of the border. Like, goodness. Melissa's up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Don't get me started on Chattanooga. Melissa, how can we help?

Hi, Rachel. Hi, Ken. It is a pleasure to speak with you today. I'm so grateful. I'm in a situation now. I have a possible fork in my career path, and I'm hoping you can kind of help me unpack it a little bit. Sure. And so what's going on?

I had my quarterly check in with my supervisor today. Now it's kind of a backstory. We work for a big company who has two retail locations. I work for the smaller of the two and it's quite a bit smaller. Um, I manage, I oversee it and I have three teammates who work for the smaller of the two, and it's quite a bit smaller. I manage, I oversee it, and I have three teammates who work for me. So we've been working really, really hard for a few years now, even through COVID and all of that, on expanding, growing, providing more service for people. We're at the point where the company or the building that we rent, we're possibly having our lease being bought out by somebody else who shares the building.

Now, we're not in a position where we can rent a new location. We've got a really sweet deal at this building. So what it sounds like, I've got probably a 60% to 75% chance that we are going to close my location, and we're going to be absorbed into the bigger location. My teammates will blend just fine. The thing that we run into is my position. My director is super awesome, super supportive, and really thinks that there is a path of progression for me to take her position

as she plans to exit the company in the next two to three years. I'm not so confident, but I'm also kind of interested I think maybe it would be a huge leap from assistant manager to director but I'm just not sure what I want to think right now it's a lot

I get it so what would the interim look like so if they shut this down the smaller location where you're in a manager position and then you go to the bigger location, you're underneath that director, what role are you in? Are you making the same amount of money? We just started discussing that. It would be a new role created for me, sort of a GM in training, along with whatever else. So I actually get a legit paycheck with a legit job at the other location while I'm training and helping the business grow,

but also learning the ropes of what it means to be a director over there. Okay. If you knew that the path was two to three years, it was guaranteed you were going to replace her, would you be on the phone with us? I'm pretty sure it could happen. I'm just not sure if it's the right choice for me. That's what I'm asking. If that makes sense.

Okay, so you're not sure if that's the long-term play for you, and I love that. So how soon is a decision going to be made where you're going to have to choose? I've got about 30 seconds, so give me the quick answer. We're looking at probably end of year. We'll know what's going to happen with the lease. All right, so here's what I would do. And then I have to decide if I'm staying or going. All right, so here's what I would do. And then I have to decide if I'm staying or going. All right, so here's what I would do. I would spend time right now thinking about your long-term future,

knowing that you have a safe option to at least take this for the interim while you still figure this out. Okay, so I just want you to breathe, stay with the company until you figure it out long-term. Hang on the line. Let's get you an assessment, the Get Clear Career Assessment. I'll give that to you, a link and a code. I want you to take that as you consider long-term what your options are, but I'm glad you're stable right now. Thank you for the call. This is The Ramsey Show. Welcome back, America.

You are listening to The Ramsey Show. I'm Ken Coleman. Rachel Cruz joins me in studio as we take your calls this hour. Now, folks, you're hearing a lot of people in the news, the talking heads. You're reading headlines about the real estate market. And if you believe them, you're going to think, oh, the housing market's going to crash. It's going to be a repeat of the 2008 housing crisis. But I can tell you, you're not hearing the truth. You can't make decisions based on fear. You need the facts. And here they are. In 2008, there was a massive supply of homes, but not enough buyer demand.

So home prices dropped. But that's not what's happening in today's market right now. There are half as many homes for sale and twice as many buyers. This means the home values, well, you may see prices coming off of the inflated prices, but values aren't going down. So if you're ready to buy or sell a home, you don't have to wait. You can still win in this market,

but you've got to work with somebody who actually knows the market and make sure that you've got a guide to walk you through the process. And we've done the hard work here at Ramsey Solutions to vet agents that know your local market and have the experience of transactions to back up their advice. To connect with one of our Ramsey trusted agents for free, go to ramseysolutions.com slash agent. That's ramseysolutions.com slash agent. Alyssa is up in Redding, California. Alyssa, how can we help? Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. How are you doing today?

We're having a blast. What's going on? So me and my fiance, I'm excited to say we're getting married October 1st. Hey. Congratulations. Yes. Thank you. So we're kind of prepping up our lives.

We both finished the three baby steps. We are ready to start going to town on saving up all of our money towards a down payment. We just finished paying three baby steps. We are ready to, like, start going to town on, like, saving up all of our money towards a down payment. We just finished paying off our wedding. So we're good to go. Nice. Thank you. Yeah, the only thing, the only problem we have here is, well, not problem, just we need to figure out what to do, is in January, Jacob is changing his, he's going through his credentialing program.

So he'll be starting as a student teacher. For six months, he will not be getting pay. He just works 40 hours a week and doesn't get paid. So we're planning for that because we're like, okay, well, what do we need to do then? I make $2,600 a month, like as far as like after taxes come out, after I save my 15% towards retirement, I have $2,600. We're currently looking for a place to settle down to together as our first home. So we're looking at a place for $1,500. We're trying to figure out kind of how much we should also, we both have three months saved of emergency fund.

So we're kind of figuring out what should our strategy be? Should we like stockpile it up to six months and then like i don't know we're kind of looking for strategy here if you guys have any um what's the number you said you both have you said you both have emergency funds what's in each of your funds so four thousand for each of us for each so so eight thousand total eight total Do you guys have any debt? No debt. No debt. Okay. And what would his income be again? You may have said it. I know he's without income for six months starting in January. What income has he been making up to this point per month? Right now, I think he got $5,000 gross, but we can save $3,700 to $4,700 off his paycheck.

They fluctuate through the end of December. Great. After his living expenses. Great. And I can save $1,000. Sorry, he can do $2,700 to $3,700 saved after living expenses. I could do $1,000. But together, after we live, we can save $3,700 to $4,700 through December on our paycheck.

Great. And that sets you up for that next six months. Yeah. That's just kind of the... Yeah. I would have a separate... I would have the $8,000 just for y'all's emergency fund. And then whatever money you guys have saved, you're going to earmark that, right?

$15,000, $20,000, whatever it ends up being at the end of the year. And then that's where you, that you're, and you need to run out your numbers too. As much as you can figure out, okay, how do we look at our expenses once we're married and how much per month will we need? And make sure that that total number is okay. And that can just kind of be like your side bank

that you're just pulling money out each month and you got to be really diligent about it. But also, I mean, the numbers you gave to besides the savings, it's around eleven hundred left after your rent or your mortgage after looking for a fifteen hundred dollar place. So that's not a lot. I mean, you guys are like, yeah, I think there's a little bit more hustle involved here. So I'm just wondering for him at night, at night, what's he going to be doing after hours? And you guys are going to be newly married.

And so like, it's not fun, but there's a little bit of this like adult life of like hey i've chosen this track and i'm gonna do that that doesn't mean at four o'clock when he's done student teaching that y'all just are gonna hang out he's probably gonna have a job you're not coming home and watching judge judy you know you're probably gonna be working at night like maybe you know at least four times a week or something and i would say even now i think there's two choices. Yeah, that's a good point. If he's sitting here with me, I'm putting my arm around him and saying,

hey, man, you need to go all in right now before the wedding. You're working crazy hours stocking up what that six-month number needs to be. Yeah. Based on what Rachel said, she's right, that living expense budget, what do we need so that we're not stressing that six months the last thing you all want is to be newlyweds and he's starting a new career which is already hard yeah okay and and and he's not getting paid even though he knows it's he's paying his dues this is all psychology well that and then you're struggling i would not be buying a house either i would be renting i would rent i would be renting. Oh, no, I would rent. I would be renting. Yeah, so rent, rent, rent.

But I don't, don't be a homeowner right now during all of this because you guys are newly married, number one. Number two, this added stress of what could come up that you guys wouldn't be able to cover if something comes up in the house versus where a landlord can. I mean, you're going to be, so finding a place to rent. And, you know, it was funny. I was talking to george camwell actually right before the show and we're talking about we were laughing because we're like hgtv

ruins our generation as much as we love you know why is that because of our expectations now of what a house has to be and what and what it should be and then you can add in right uh social media in the middle of that and instagram but what houses and living is like today versus like even, you know, George and I, which we were, you're an elder here at the table compared to me, Ken. All the shots at my age today. But in the 90s, you know, when I grew up in the early 90s, like I know what our house was like as kids. Paper thin doors, your bathrooms, you shared. It was tiny. That's so true.

Like it just was that. Yeah, I remember those doors. And so so true like it just was i remember those doors and so you just like that was life then that was normal and now the expectation so listen i'm saying all this to say when you are newlyweds there is an even heightened uh emotional pull towards we want to create a beautiful home and have like all of this and it's just so beautiful but yes you want your space to be great, but don't have a big look in the mirror and just say,

we are going to have contentment with this and we're going to be smart. We're not going to go financially in the hole and make a stupid move on a house when we can't afford it just to live in that level of like what it should be and what you think it is.

You know what I mean? I agree with you. This is the adventure time. Live in a room over a garage that some old lady owns or something and save even more money. Let your husband move into that student teaching thing with zero stress and you all focus on your relationship. I remember my mom and dad were in town recently,

and these stories, I hope we don't do this to our kids. They were like, well, we lived in a 900 square. My dad doesn doesn't even talk like that I don't know why I'm doing that voice but you know we live in a 900 square foot apartment over top of a pharmacy you know and I'm like like I'm supposed to react to that I don't remember it but you think about that 900 square feet yeah two two room apartment they said two room it was like it was their bedroom and then everything else was like I think the bathroom and the kitchen was all like right there yep and you think about that you go okay I mean the jury's out whether or not I turned out okay I mean I realize now the skeptics but you know we survived and I don't even remember that yes Yes, that's right. And certainly as a newlywed couple with no kids.

Yes. Just don't get into the newlywed romanticizing about the living situation. I like what you said about HTV. You know what we need to be telling these young couples? Go for the before house, not the after house. Oh, Ken. Huh? I'm trying to pay attention.

I'm trying to be involved with this younger thing you're doing. I like that. I like that. So instead of the flip, instead of the other side of the flip. Yeah, go to the first house. I'm trying to be involved with this younger thing you're doing. I like that. I like that. That's good. So instead of the flip, instead of the other side of the flip. Yeah, go to the first house. I know. Go to the before. Get stable.

Then maybe you could flip it down the line. Yeah, for sure. I know. I do love HGTV, though. No, it's great. We were kind of just joking. We were like Chip and Joe. You know, we love them.

Obsessed. But also, they ruined us with Shiplap. We just feel like everything needs to be Shiplap forever. Even though I feel like that's even fading, right? Is it? I think so. A little bit. Whereas Ken was just thankful to have running water in his log cabin. Yeah, I lived in a log cabin. I'm so glad

that you were concerned about shiplap. I grew up eating spam. Go research spam all you young 20-somethings. I ate that every day. Hey, hamburger helper. Oh, that's not spam. Like spam wouldn't even clear USDA qualifications. Hey, it's been a fun hour.

Thanks to the team in the booth. Thanks to you, America. She's Rachel Cruz. I'm Ken Coleman. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey, it's Rachel Cruz, co-host on The Ramsey Show. If you want to do your debt-free scream live on the show, visit ramseysolutions.com slash debt-free scream.

We'd love for you to come to Nashville and tell Dave your story. That's ramseysolutions.com slash debt-free scream.